"But rescue work was extremely difficult, with too much toxic gas in the shaft after the fire," said Wang Shuhe, deputy head of State Administration of Coal Mine Safety.

Wang arrived at the site Wednesday to oversee rescue work and the investigation into the cause of the disaster.

Family members were still waiting for news in a hut near the entry to the pit. Most were pale and too distraught to say anything.

"I till hope there's a miracle, that some of them will walk outlive," said a white-haired man whose son was one of the missing. He turned down a lunch box a mine worker offered him. "I have no appetite," he said.

Lisheng is a privately-run coal mine with 180 employees. It is undergoing technical upgrading to double annual output to 60,000 tons.

XIANGTAN, Hunan, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- At least seven people were dead after a coal mine fire Tuesday trapped at least 27 workers in central China's Hunan Province, a local government official said.

The accident happened after underground cables caught fire at around 2 p.m., while about 70 miners were working in the shaft at Lisheng Coal Mine in Tanjiashan Town, Xiangtan County of Xiangtan City, the official said. Full story